No, restoring relations with Iran is not like President Nixon restoring relations with China. And just becomes some leftish professors have been on this kick for a while doesn't mean that it has any basis in reality. Yet it makes perfect sense that our "professor" president thinks he can achieve an outreach to Iran if he just tries a little harder.
Obama administration objectives for Iran are just delusional:
A great deal of diplomatic attention over the next few months will be focused on whether the temporary nuclear deal with Iran can be transformed into a full-blown accord. President Obama has staked the success of his foreign policy on this bold gamble. But discussion about the nuclear deal has diverted attention from an even riskier bet that Obama has placed: the idea that Iran can become a cooperative partner in regional security.
Although they won’t say so publicly, Mr. Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry surely dream of a “Nixon to China” masterstroke. They are quietly pursuing a strategic realignment that, they believe, will end decades of semi-open warfare between Iran and the United States and their respective allies.
The authors note, as I have, that Nixon went to China successfully because we had the common enemy of the Soviet Union. We wanted to divert Soviet resources to coping with China; and China--having fought border clashes with their former ally--needed help to keep Soviet forces from invading China's industrial north.
If President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry believe they can "go to China," who, pray tell, is the notional Soviet Union that provides incentive for both of us to work with each other?
The simple fact is, there is no foreign threat to move Iran from thinking of us as the "great Satan." Vague notions that we will unite against "instability" in the region, or some such rot, won't cut it.
And the Saudis might have some fears that they get to play the role of Soviet threat. That would explain their search for alternatives to US protection.
But there is no uniting threat to end the hostility between America and Iran, which is based on the Iranian support of terrorism in the region, world, and even here.
And to point out the obvious, in foreign policy matters at least, President Obama is no Nixon. And Kerry is no Kissinger. Heck, Kerry isn't even an Albright.
Iran is our enemy. The only questions are how long it takes the Obama administration to realize this basic fact; and how much damage to our interests and our allies is inflicted before we realize that basic fact.
